Incorporating Urban Area Truck Freight Value into the Texas AM TransportationInstitute’s Urban Mobility Report

摘要

For nearly 30 years, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) has developed methodologiesand appropriate performance measures for estimating congestion performance andcommunicating them to technical and non-technical audiences. Historically, TTI’s UrbanMobility Report (UMR) has focused on passenger-car congestion (i.e., the average commuter).However, roadway traffic congestion certainly impacts both commuters and goods movement.With the documented growth of freight shipments and value, particularly in trucking, researchersdeveloped and applied a methodology to include urban area truck freight commodity value that isimpacted by congestion into the UMR.The methodology uses data from Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA’s) FreightAnalysis Framework (FAF) and Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS).Commodity values supplied by FAF are integrated with truck vehicle-miles of travel (VMT)calculated from the HPMS roadway inventory.Researchers estimated that $7 trillion worth of commodities was trucked on America’surban streets and highways during 2020. At the urban area level, the results of the truck valuemeasure appear intuitive as bigger cities consume more goods, which mean a higher value offreight movement.The addition of truck value to the UMR provides another dimension to inform policy20makers and decision-makers about the congestion problem. It also serves to inform truckingstakeholders by estimating the amount of truck value that is impacted by congestion.Researchers will continue to include the truck freight value performance measure in subsequentreleases of the UMR.